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May 17, 2005

Judicial SIGHT-ations: Better Late Than Never

Article III Groupie is pleased by the warm reception accorded to her profiles of the Supreme Court clerks for October Term 2005. As late-breaking tidbits continue to drift in, she continues to supplement and revise her previously published posts. For example, she has recently updated the profiles for Sam Spital, Randy Kozel (including a new footnote), and Ashley Johnson (with a new photo). A3G is also drafting her post about Justice Ginsburg's incoming clerks, which should hopefully appear later this week.

But A3G does not want to neglect the world beyond One First Street. After all, not all of her readers share her obsession with Supreme Court clerks. So she has been interspersing her puff pieces about The Elect with various staples of her federal judicial gossip column -- such as celebrity sightings.

Today's post collects judicial sight-ations from around the country. Due to A3G's neglect of her email account for a number of months, some of these items are quite old. A3G apologizes for their embarrassing staleness, for which she takes full responsibility. But A3G believes that juicy morsels of judicial gossip -- like diamonds -- are forever.

And now, in no particular order, here are UTR's latest judicial sight-ations. Because this post is a little lengthy, A3G has highlighted federal judges' names in bold, for easy skimming (and in emulation of Page Six).

Last's night's bash for Dick Posner was splendid. I chatted with Dick and Charlene (his fabulous wife), Second Circuit Judges Pierre Leval (an old friend), James Oakes (ditto), and many S.D.N.Y. district judges, including William Pauley (for whom my wife clerked), Kevin Castel, and the awesome Barbara Jones. Pierre Leval wowed the crowd with an orange bow-tie.

Anyway, that's not why I am writing. I thought that Joan Wexler's intro to Dick didn't do him justice, so I am going to post a piece on him on my blog tonight. I'll send you the link.

(By the way, in case you're wondering, Article Three Groupie has identified Mr. Patry as her source with his permission. As stated here, the UTR default rule is anonymity for sources. If A3G would like to mention you by name as a source, she will obtain your consent prior to doing so -- unless you fall into the elite group of correspondents with whom A3G has adopted the opposite baseline rule.)

2. While we're on the subject of federal judges partying it up in New York, consider this sighting of the #1 Female Superhottie, Judge Kimba M. Wood (S.D.N.Y.) -- in the company of bona fide, non-judicial celebrities. An NYC-based correspondent writes:

If you look in this month's "Palm Beach Issue" of Quest magazine, on page 18, there are photos from the American Museum of Natural History's Annual Museum Ball. There, amidst such mainstream celebreties such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld, Tom Brokaw, and Billy Joel, was the Hon. Kimba Wood (with husband Frank Richardson).

A little more investigation uncovers this write-up of the event, listing other celebrities in attendance. Photos (although not the exact ones in Quest) are available here.

Spectacular! Be sure to check out the pics; scroll down the page to spot Judge Wood, in a black gown and electric blue wrap. She looks amazing -- can you believe that's she is in her sixties? (Has she had any work done, and if so, by whom?)

3. Speaking of federal judicial super-hotties, no judicial sight-ations post would be complete without mention of The Easy Rider, who rode up to Cambridge a few months ago for some vast right-wing conspiring...

(a) "Alan Dershowitz welcomed Akhil Amar (YLS) and Judge Alex Kozinski (an all-star lineup if there ever was one) to his first-year Crim class. The three participated in a spirited debate on the proper construction of the Fourth Amendment. The end result, bizarrely, was Kozinski professing that he firmly believes in a living constitution and accusing Amar of senseless textualism."

"Kozinski is definitely a judicial hottie. He was sporting a hip denim shirt with buttoning breast pockets. Fashionable even without his robes. Below is a (heavily paraphrased) transcription of the funniest moment."

Dershowitz: I recall a brilliant law review article that you began by citing the Book of Ruth to the effect of "in the days when the judges ruled, a great famine came upon the land."

Kozinski: You must have me confused with someone else. I never said any such thing.

Dersh: Then your law clerk did.

Koz (taking out his billfold and rifling through it): I'd be willing to bet money on it.

(b) "I had the pleasure, with some friends, of hanging out with Judge David Sentelle (D.C. Cir.; pictured at right) and Judge Alex Kozinski (9th Cir.) on Friday night in a local bar, and having lunch with AK on Saturday in between the panels. Very, very fun."

"AK was in full effect, wearing cargo pants, a denim jacket, and blue vans canvas shoes on Friday night for the first panel and the cocktail reception. I don’t think he was widely recognized at the reception, since he was wandering around the room from crowd to crowd rather than being followed and hounded as he was on Saturday after the word was out. AK drank only half a beer; Sentelle had 4 or 5 martinis.... [Quasi-scandalous material deleted.] The highlight of the night (besides hanging out with the judges) was Judge Sentelle's reference to the first panel as 'academic masturbation.' Priceless!"

"Lunch with AK was less eventful. I'm sure you know he snowboards. He is not a Lakers fan, it turns out. For him, sports are like sex: 'If I can’t participate, there is no point in watching.'"

Was at the Jus Gentium lecture. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a camera -- in response to your previous postings, Judge Niemeyer must have gotten new glasses since the picture you posted. He was wearing stylish, smaller, half-rim bifocals. Overall, he looks much better in person than in the picture.

I went to a baseball game with [Judge Ginsburg] on Sunday, he spoke to the Federalist Society yesterday on law & economics, and he judged the moot court yesterday afternoon. I don't have much to report except that he likes the Orioles, was happy they killed the Yankees. Very nice guy, well kempt mustache, very nice guest he brought along.

Vandy Law hosted Justice Scalia [last month]. It was a very nice event, with Justice Scalia lecturing on his orignialist views and taking some challenging (but respectful) questions. He was wearing a tasteful grey suit and maroon tie and looked like the Italian man next door! :-)

He was a bit brusque in answering questions challenging his point of view, but what else can you expect from a rock star? The event was followed by a swanky reception where Scalia talked to many students and enjoyed the best food the law school has ever provided for free.

7. Swinging through the south and towards the coast, A3G finds herself in south Florida, where the Eleventh Circuit recently held its judicial conference. Prior to the event, a UTR correspondent offered this teaser: "I think there will be a number of sightation possibilities; rumor has it they may include a possible resident of One First Street, as a speaker, and the adorable Judge Adalberto Jordan [a former SOC clerk] from the Southern District of Florida."

Cabranes served as the Chief Justice for the moot, and was surprisingly quiet, but Garland was an absolute treat, warming up as the moot continued and charming the crowd. The case was Elvig v. Calvin Presbyterian Church (pdf), out of the Ninth Circuit but not appealed to SCOTUS, about the intersection of sexual harassment law under Title VII and the First Amendment. My favorite part of the moot was when Judge Garland, asking a question about whether forms of sexual harassment which may also be assault, e.g., pinching, would be actionable, made a pinching gesture with his fingers to petitioner's counsel, Vanessa Countryman. By the end of the moot, he had all participants and the crowd laughing along with him.

Students arguing on behalf of Reverend Elvig were Sarah Sulkowski (3L) and Ashley Keller (2L). Aruging on behalf of the church were Vanessa Countryman (3L) and Jeff Mandell (2L). For your fashion review, we only saw the judges in their judicial robes, although Garland was wearing a natty baby blue tie. The participants rose to the occasion fashion-wise, especially Ms. Countryman, who sported a very stylish 5-strand pearl necklace over her black suit, really raising the bar for the otherwise unfortunate U of C fashion sense.

9. Finally, some time ago -- yes, the vagueness is intentional, to conceal A3G's lateness -- Judge Lee H. Rosenthal (S.D. Tex.) and Judge Shira A. Scheindlin (S.D.N.Y.) were spotted in our nation's capital. They were in Washington for hearings on proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure concerning electronic discovery:

Judge Rosenthal chaired the hearing, but the proceedings were a veritable tag team. During the break, the Honorables both rushed up to a testifying witness to ask the same question. Judge Rosenthal said, "We're always tripping over each other," and Judge Scheindlin replied, "It's an embarassment!"

Judge Scheindlin of course wrote the landmark Zubulake opinions on electronic discovery, and no one but Judge Rosenthal was as sharp on the issues. They carefully questioned each witness, and despite their godly status, gave everyone in the room an uncommon amount of respect.

Quite interesting! A3G is glad to hear that Judge Shira Scheindlin -- who, while no relation to Judge Judy Sheindlin, has a reputation for being similarly tough and demanding, a bit of a judicial diva -- was friendly and charming.

********************

Whew! A3G is just plum [sic?] tuckered out from all of this judicial celebrity spotting! But don't worry -- she still has enough energy to write up a profile of Justice Ginsburg's next set of clerks, which should be issued any day now. Last call for tidbit submissions!

Oh, and looking ahead to Justice Breyer's clerks, trivia and fun facts about them would also be most welcome. A3G has decent amounts of "tidbitage" about Danielle G. and Kathryn J.-- and she has enough on Jon K. to write a young-adult biography on him. But if you have any good info about the mysterious John L., please send it her way.

Comments

You happened to mention Judge Judy here – she of the television show – but you only do it in passing in order to clear up any confusion with your Judge Judy. It strikes me, though, that you should probably take a closer look at these, shall I say popular if less prestigious, judges? In our post modern world, where there is no essential difference between popular and high-brow cultures, it would only seem to make sense. After all, it looks as though your site actually relies on that very principle, so why not push it as far as it will go? You’ve reduced the elite of the justice system to popular culture – now elevate the popular to high brow.

Shouldn’t you have that infamous picture from Jon Stewart’s book on America at the top of your page? I’ve got to say, this is an excellent commentary on an awful lot of issues, leaving aside the very real informational function it seems to serve. I half expected to read that Justice Ginsburg and her Chihuahua were heading South to film this season’s Simple Life. On the other hand, I am gratified to know that, underneath their robes, these many paragons of the legal profession still essentially put their pants on one leg at a time, even if those pants are custom made Armani. I suppose it had to happen sooner or later, though. In our media-crazed world, even the rather moldy world of the law was bound to wind up as tabloid fodder. Perhaps the real question should be what Blind Justice wears beneath her robes.